Archive for October, 2013

Devon’s Team Blitz Tournament was held on Sunday at the Newton Abbot Club and there were several prizewinners. Overall winners were Newton Abbot “A” who took the Thomas Cup. Teignmouth “A” won the Hodge Cup for the highest score by a team with a total grade of Under-600, while Newton Abbot “B” took the cup for U-450s. The only undefeated team was Exmouth Eagles whose Meyrick Shaw took the new trophy for the highest individual score.

A new Plymouth-based organisation has recently started operations in the westcountry, although their ambitions stretch far beyond these shores. They are called Mind Sports International, a subsidiary of Living it Loving it Ltd., and their aim is to harness modern technologies like web TV and live streaming to tournaments involving chess, scrabble, poker etc. making them more accessible to a viewing public. Their ultimate goal is to have 12 festivals happening every year – 4 in Europe, 4 in North America and 4 across Asia and the rest of the World. They have events planned for Las Vegas and Prague in December but much nearer to home is one to be held at Plymouth Guildhall on the 16th & 17th November involving a range of games including chess. Visit their website (mindsportsinternational.com) to find out more.

The 14th Senior Congress at the Royal Beacon Hotel, Exmouth, starts a week on Monday. Entries are filling up fast, but there is still space for a few latecomers. For details contact me on 01395-223340.

The general rule is that knights should avoid getting stuck on the edge of the board where they tend to be least effective, (“knights on the rim are dim”) but in the case of last week’s problem 1.Nd1! was, in fact, the key move, as Black has no way of avoiding all the various mates next move.

In this position, White has an easy knight fork that wins the exchange, but there may be a quicker way to finish the game off.

Devon’s Team Blitz Tournament was again hosted by the Newton Abbot Club, with 10 teams competing for a record number of trophies. 12 minutes per player per game.

Newton Abbot’s 1st team, the Abbots, and previous winners, Exmouth Eagles, were the two top-rated teams by some margin , and their final position, after 6 rounds, reflected this. The Eagles’ consolation was to be the only undefeated team and to win the new Best Individual trophy, going to Meyrick Shaw for his 5 wins and a draw. Top-graded Dominic Mackle was denied a maximum score by losing to Kevin Hurst of the Eagles. Other players on 5/6 were Paul Brookes, Chris Scott, Alan Brusey, Trefor Thynne & Andrew Kinder.

The scratch team, Exmouth Egrets underperformed. They had regrets – but then again, too few to mention.

The event was organised by Trefor Thynne (Newton Abbot) and controlled by Ray Chubb (Teignmouth). Refreshments were provided by Mrs. Mackle and friend.

In their annual match in the WECU Inter-County Championship, Somerset were weakened by the absence of their top player, Jack Rudd and team Captain, Ben Edgell, both attending a crucial ECF meeting. Any pre-match hopes that Devon might have nurtured about the possibility of a rare win were stoked by the fact that they outgraded their opponents on every single one of the 28 boards. Added to that, Somerset gifted their opponents an early point after a few minutes, when Darren Freeman blundered a piece on move 5 and resigned immediately, creating what must surely be the shortest game in the history of the competition. What an opportunity!

However, it was all downhill for Devon from then onwards as they contrived to lose game after game using a variety of methods; weak opening moves, blunders losing a piece or overstepping the time control. Somerset won 9 of the top 11 games, a remarkable sequence. The concession of 3 losses on the lower boards did little to lighten the gloom for Devon. There was an impressive performance by a Somerset newcomer, Matthew J. Payne, recently enrolled at Bath University and formerly of Worthing and a product of the Sussex Juniors chess machine. His grade of 184 is 12 points up from his January grade, indicating he’s on a steep upward trajectory, backed up by his 195 rapidplay grade. He’s one to watch.

Devon’s U-160 team fared much better, losing only 2 of their 12 games, and running out 8 – 4 winners.

Devon 1

Grd

Somerset 1

Grd

1

D. Mackle

204

0

1

P. Krzyzanowski

197

2

A. K. Boyne

197

0

1

P. E. Chaplin

190

3

J. K. Stephens

190

0

1

D. P. Littlejohns

186

4

S. J. Homer

188

0

1

M. J. Payne

184

5

Dr. T. Paulden

186

0

1

A. V. Wong

181

6

P. Medina

180

1

0

C. S. Purry

177

7

K. J. Hurst

184

0

1

A. F. Footner

176

8

Dr. D. Regis

176

1

0

J. E. Fewkes

163

9

A. W. Brusey

181

0

1

G. N. Crockart

162

10

Dr. J. Underwood

172

0

1

P. W. Cusick

159

11

B. W. R. Hewson

165

0

1

G. N. Jepps

156

12

J. Fraser

163

1

0

D. Peters

156

13

T. F. Thynne

165

1

0

A. W. Champion

156

14

P. Brooks

167

0

1

M. R. Baker

152

15

G. Body

160

1

0

D. Freeman

151

16

S. Martin

162

½

½

N. N. Senior

149

Totals

5½

10½

Devon U-160

Somerset U-160

1

J. G. Gorodi

159

1

0

C. J. S. McKinley

148

2

M. Stinton-Brown.

158

1

0

R. D. Knight

148

3

A. S. Kinder

150

0

1

C. M. Strong

144

4

I. S. Annetts

152

½

½

T. West

138

5

B. G. E. Gosling

151

½

½

U. Effiong

137

6

J. Duckham

146

1

0

G. Daniel

137

7

J. S. Murray

148

½

½

R. Challoner

136

8

K. P. Atkins

142

0

1

C. Fewtrell

130

9

R. G. Wilby

141

1

0

J. I. Wilkinson

125

10

N. Mills

140

½

½

S. Pickard

122

11

P. Dobber

136

1

0

N. Mills

124

12

W. R. P. Taylor

136

1

0

R. Fenton

121

Totals

8

4

Krzyzanowski vs Mackle in foreground.

Steve Homer (W) heading for a tough time against newcomer Matthew Payne.

George Crockart (W) made light of his 19 point grading deficit against Alan Brusey.